Auxiliary feeding hopper for a document handling machine



Nov. 20, 1934. c. J. HUGHEY AUXILIARY FEEDING HOPPER FOR A DOCUMENTHANDLING MACHINE Filed Feb. 17, 1934 Patented Nov. 20, 1934 PATENTQFFICE AUXILIARY FEEDING HOPPER FOR A DOCU- MENT HANDLING MACHINE Carter.1. Hughey,

Eastman Kodak Company,

Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Rochester, N. Y., a

corporation of New York 7 Application February 17, 1934, Serial No.711,812

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to a guiding arrangement for a documenthandling and/or reproducing machine and more particularly to a guidingmember for directing long documents, such as letters, ledger sheets,bills of lading, etc., onto the feeding drum of such a machine.

Relatively narrow documents, such as checks, may be more or lesscarelessly fed into a document handling machine from a position abovethe machine and a suitable straightening device will orient or rightthese narrow documents prior to movement by the periphery of the feedingdrum. However, larger and longer documents must be more carefullyintroduced into the machine because a straightening device capable ofrighting checks will not straighten the longer documents with respect tothe feeding drum less said longer documents are inclined only at aslight angle to the axis or elements of said feeding drum.

This required additional care in the introduction of the largerdocuments fatigues the operator quite rapidly because the arms of theoperator must be held extended during the feeding 'of the longdocuments. Consequently, another feeding station, which includes ahorizontal feeding board, is provided on the machine. Additional guidemembers are required for directing the, documents from the feeding boardto the drum and these guide members are preferably rendered inoperativewhen the horizontal feeding board is not in use.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision in aphotographic document reproducing machine of guide members forconducting long documents from a feeding board to a feeding drum.

Another object of the invention is the provision in a reproducingmachine having a guideway ofa cover member for said guideway and formoving a guide member into and out of operative position with respect tothe feeding drum.

A further object is the provision of a spring catch for resilientlyholding the cover member either in open or closed position.

Other objects of the invention will be suggested to those skilled in theart by the description hereinafter.

The above and other objects of the invention are embodied in areproducing machine having a guideway which directs documents from afeeding board to the feeding drum of the machine, including a guidemember for directing documents from the guideway around said feedingdrum, and including a cover member which is movable to an open positionand a closed position with respect to said guideway and which isconnected to said guide member for moving the same into an operativeposition and an inoperative position in respective open and closedpositions of the cover member. A spring catch resiliently engages saidcover member to hold the same in either the open position or the closedposition.

Reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawing, wherein likereference characters designate similar elements and wherein:

Fig. 1 is'a vertical section through the feeding stations of areproducing machine according to the invention with the cover member inclosed position and the guide member in a corresponding 79; inoperativeposition.

Fig. 2 is also a vertical section through a machine according to theinvention but with the cover member and guide member in open positionand operative position, respectively.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the document handlingmachine is enclosed within a housing 10 which is provided with'a mainfeeding hopper 11. A feeding board 12 extends horizontally from thehousing 10 8Q While a vertical wall 13 is provided in the housingadjacent the feeding board 12. An opening 14, see Fig. 2, is provided atthe juncture of feeding board 12 and vertical wall 13. A vguideway 15 islocated to conduct documents from the feed- 85, ing board 12 to afeeding means which will be later described in detail. A side wall 15 islocated along the edges of guideway 15, is preferably in the samevertical plane as the side wall of main feeding hopper 11,- and mayfunction to co. guide the side edges of the documents moving along theguideway 15. A recess 16 is located between the feeding board 12 andguideway 15.

The feeding means of the document handling machine is ofrecognized-design and includes a feeding drum 17 which is rotatablymounted upon a shaft 18 and which is provided with a plurality ofcircumferential grooves 19. A plurality of wires 20 are attached at oneend to a rod 21 and at the other end to a rod 22. The Wires 20 makecontact with a portion of the periphery of feeding drum 17 and functionto hold the documents evenly against the surface of feeding drum 17.

A check straightening device is provided at the entrance to the feedingmeans formed by the feeding drum 1'? and plurality of wires 20 and mayconsist of a roller 23 mounted on a shaft 24. A document control memberfor operating the camera drive, not shown,. includes a plate 25 whichhas a plurality of lugs 26 adapted to extend into the grooves 19 of drum17 and which is rotatably mounted upon a shaft 27.

An auxiliary feeding hopper includes the opening 14 between feedingboard 12 and vertical wall 13 and the guideway 15 which is inclined fromthe feeding board 12 to a point adjacent the feeding drum 17. I

A cover member is movably mounted on the housing 10 of the machine andis adapted in closed position to cover the opening 14, but in openposition permits the introduction of come paratively long documents,such as letters, into the opening 14 and along the guideway 15 to theperiphery of feeding drum 17. The cover member is composed of a cover 28which has a side plate 29 attached thereto. The side plate 29 isrotatably mounted on the housing 10 by means of a pivot 30 and carries aprojection or abutment 31, preferably turned out of the stock of sideplate 29. The cover 28 is angular in formation and has a portion 32which is adapted in closed position of the cover member to fit intorecess 16 and lie flush with the horizontal surface of feeding board 12.The cover member has another portion 33 which is preferably at rightangles to the portion 32 and which is adapted in closed position of thecover to lie flush with the vertical wall 13 of the housing 10. In otherwords the cover member is so constructed that in closed position saidcover member closes the opening 14 and has portions which are flush withthe horizontal surface of the feeding board 12 and the vertical surfaceof the wall 13, but which in open position permits access to the opening14, guideway 15, and feeding drum 17.

A guide member 34 is connected to the cover member and is adapted inopen position of the cover member to lie upon the periphery of drum 1'7and in closed position of the cover member to be spaced from theperiphery of drum 1'7. The guide member. 34 is pivotally mounted on arod 35 which extends from side plate 29 and has an arcuate portion 34'whichis concentric with the drum 17 and which extends lengthwise of thedrum.

When the cover member is in open position, as shown in Fig. 2, thearcuate portion 34 of the guide member 34 lies or rests upon theperiphery of drum 17 so that long documents, such as letters, aredirected toward and evenly held against the surface of the feeding drum17 while being fed over the feeding board 12 and guideway 15. When thecover member is moved to closed position with its portions 32 and 33flush with feeding board 12 and vertical wall 13, respectively, theabutment 31 on side plate 29 engages the guide member 34 and swings thesame away from the periphery of drum 17. This position of the guidemember 34 is illustrated in Fig. 1.

A holding means cooperates with the cover member resiliently to maintainthe same either in closed position or in open position. Such a holdingmeans is conveniently provided by a spring member 36 which is mounted onthe side wall of housing 10 and which has a fiat portion extendingperpendicular of said side wall to press against the front edge of sideplate 29 or a diagonal edge 29' of side plate 29. 'In closed position ofthe cover member, see Fig. 1, the holding means =or spring member 36presses against the front edge of side plate 29 resiliently to maintainthe cover member in closed position. While in open position of the covermember, see Fig. 2, the spring member 36 presses against the diagonaledge 29' of side plate 29 so that the cover member is resiliently heldin open position as shown.

Minor variations of the construction illustrated are possible withoutexceeding the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Having now particularly described my invention what I desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States and what I claim is:-

1. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housingwhich is provided with a guideway for documents, a feeding drumrotatablymounted within said housing and for movingdocuments therein,and a cover mounted on saidhousing, adapted in closed position to coversaid guideway and adapted in open position to uncover said guideway, ofa guide member connected to said cover, adapted in open position of saidcover to contact said drum for directing documents therearound andadapted in closed position of said cover to be spaced from said drum.

' 2. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housingwhich is provided with a guideway for documents, a feeding drumrotatably mounted within said housing and for moving documents therein,and a cover pivotally mounted on said housing, adapted in closedposition to cover said guideway and adapted in open position to uncoversaid guideway, of a guide member pivotally connected to said cover,adapted in open position of said cover to contact said drum fordirecting documents therearound and adapted in closed position of saidcover to be spaced from said drum. i

3. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a'housingwhich is provided with a guideway for documents, a feeding drumrotatably mounted within said housing and for moving documents therein,and a cover movable to closed and open positions for respective coveringand uncovering of said guideway and including a projection, of a guidemember connected to said cover, adapted in open position of said coverto contact said drum and adapted upon movement of said cover to closedposition to be moved away from said drum by said projection.

4. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housingwhich is provided with a guideway for documents, a feeding drumrotatably mounted within said housing and for moving documents therein,and a cover mounted on said housing, movable to closed and openpositions for respective covering and uncovering of said guideway andincluding a projection, of a guide member connected to said cover,adapted in open position of said cover to lie upon the periphery of saiddrum and adapted upon movement of said cover to closed position to bemoved away from said drum against the action of gravity by saidprojection.

5. Ina machine for handling documents, the combination with a housingwhich is provided with a guideway for documents, a feeding drumrotatably mounted .within said housing and for moving documents therein,and a cover having a side plate for pivotal connection to said housingand a projection on said side plate, said cover being movable to closedand open positions for respective covering and uncovering of said guideway, of a guide member pivotally connected to the side plate of saidcover, adapted in open position of said cover to contact said drum andadapted upon movement of said cover to closed position to be moved awayfrom said drum by said projection. I

6. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housinghaving a feeding board which is provided with a recess and with aguideway for documents, and a feeding drum rotatably mounted within saidhousing and for moving documents therein, of a cover member pivotallyconnected to said housing and movable to an open position and to aclosed position within said recess and flush with the surface of saidfeeding board, an abutment on said cover member, and a guide memberpivotally connected to said cover member, adapted to rest upon theperiphery of said drum in open position of said cover member, andmovable away from said drum by the abutment on said cover member uponmovement thereof to closed position.

'7. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housinghaving a vertical wall and an adjacent horizontal feeding board,provided with an opening at the juncture of said wall and said feedingboard and provided with a recess in said feeding board, and a feedingdrum rotatably mounted within said housing and for moving documentstherein, of a cover member pivotally connected to said housing andmovable to an open position and to a closed position within said recess,having a portion adapted in closed position to lie flush with saidvertical wall and having another portion also adapted in closed positionto lie within said recess and flush with the surface of said feedingboard, an abutment on said cover member, and a guide member pivotallyconnected to said cover member, adapted to rest upon the periphery ofsaid drum in open position of said cover member, and movable away fromsaid drum by the abutment on said cover member upon movement thereof toclosed position.

8. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housingwhich is provided with a guideway for documents, a feeding drumrotatably mounted within said housing and for moving documents therein,and a cover member mounted on said housing, adapted in closed positionto cover said guideway and adapted in open position to uncover saidguideway, of a guide member connected to said cover, adapted in openposition of said cover to rest upon said drum and adapted in closedposition of said cover to be raised above said drum, and a holding meansmounted on said housing adjacent said cover member and for engaging saidcover to hold the same in open position and in closed position.

9. In a machine for handling documents, the combination with a housingwhich is provided with a guideyay for documents, a feeding drumrotatably mounted within said housing and for moving documents therein,and a cover member movable to a closed position to cover said guidewayand to an open position to uncover said guideway and having a side platewhich is rotatably mounted on said housing and which is provided with apair of edges at an angle to each other, of a spring member on saidhousing having a flat portion for engaging one of said edges of the sideplate resiliently to maintain the cover member in closed position andfor engaging the other of said edges of the side plate resiliently tomaintain the cover member in open position.

CARTER. J. HUGHEY,

